VATICAN CITY (AP) – A leading Catholic cardinal says he is in touch with a man condemned to die in Texas this week, and that Pope Francis is following the case, too.
Vienna Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn told reporters at the Vatican that he has been in close touch with Richard Masterson, who is scheduled to be executed on Wednesday. He didn’t elaborate on what kind of contact they had.
Masterson was convicted of strangling a female impersonator in Houston in 2001.
Attorneys for Masterson have contended that his earlier lawyers were deficient and that his confession about the death of Darin Shane Honeycutt, who went by the stage name of Brandi Houston, was improper. Appeals also have argued that Masterson is innocent and that medical examiner testimony about the victim’s death was misleading.
The cardinal mentioned the case while speaking at the Vatican about church initiatives to promote mercy, a quality Francis has been stressing.
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